Miwok and Paiute peoples lived in the area for decades before the first
white explorations into the region. A band of Miwok called the Ahwahnechee
lived in Yosemite Valley when the first Caucasians entered it.

The California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century dramatically increased
white travel in the area. United States Army Major James Savage led the
Mariposa Battalion into Yosemite Valley in 1851 while in pursuit of around
200 Ahwaneechees led by Chief Tenaya as part of the Mariposa Wars. Accounts
from this battalion were the first confirmed cases of Caucasians entering
the valley. Attached to Savage's unit was Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, the company
physician, who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley
in The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnel is credited with naming the valley
after what he thought was the name of the band they were pursing. Correspondence
and articles written by members of the battalion helped to popularize
the valley and surrounding area.

Tenaya and the rest of the Ahwahneechee were eventually captured and
their village burned. They were removed to a reservation near Fresno,
California. Some were later allowed to return to the valley but got in
trouble after attacking a group of eight miners in 1852. The band fled
to take refuge with the nearby Mono tribe, which betrayed its hospitality—each
Ahwahneechee was tracked down and killed by the Mono.

Entrepreneur James Mason Hutchings, artist Thomas Ayres, and two others
ventured into the area in 1855, becoming the valley's first tourists.
Hutchings wrote articles and books about this and later excursions in
the area and Ayres' scretchs became the first accurate drawings of many
prominent features. Photographer Charles Leander Weed took the first photographs
of the Valley's features in 1859. Later photographers included Ansel Adams.

Wawona was an Indian encampment in what is now the southwestern part
of the park. Settler Galen Clark discovered the Mariposa Grove of Giant
Sequoia in Wawona in 1856. Simple lodgings were built, as were roads to
the area. In 1879, the Wawona Hotel was built to serve tourists visiting
the Grove. As tourism increased, so did the number of trails and hotels.

Concerned by the effects of commercial interests, several prominent people
advocated for protection of the area. A park bill passed both houses of
the U.S. Congress and was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on June
30, 1864, creating the Yosemite Grant. Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa
Grove were ceded to California as a state park and a board of commissioners
was proclaimed two years later.

Galen Clark was appointed by the commission as the grant's first guardian
but neither Clark nor the commissioners had the authority to evict homesteaders
(which included Hutchings). The issue was not settled until 1875 when
the land holdings were invalidated. Clark and the reigning commissioners
were ousted in 1880 and Hutchings became the new park guardian.

Access to the park by tourists improved in the early years of the park
and conditions in the Valley were made more hospitable. Tourism started
to significantly increase after the First Transcontinental Railroad was
completed in 1869, but the long horseback ride needed to reach the area
was a deterrent. Three stagecoach roads were built in the mid-1870s to
provide better access to the growing number of visitors to the Valley.

Scottish-born naturalist John Muir first wrote many articles popularizing
the area and increasing scientific interest in it. Muir was one of the
first to theorize that the major landforms in Yosemite were created by
large alpine glaciers, bucking established scientists such as Josiah Whitney,
who regarded Muir as an amateur. Muir also wrote scientific papers on
the area's biology.

Overgrazing of meadows (especially by sheep), logging of Giant Sequoia,
and other damage caused Muir to become an advocate for further protection.
Muir convinced prominent guests of the importance of putting the area
under federal protection. One such guest was Robert Underwood Johnson,
editor of Century Magazine. Through Johnson, he was able to help pass
an act of Congress that created Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890.
The State of California, however, retained control of the Valley and Grove.
Muir also helped persuade local officials to virtually eliminate grazing
from the Yosemite High Country.

The newly created national park came under the jurisdiction of the United
States Army's Fourth Cavalry Regiment on May 19, 1891, which set up camp
in Wawona. By the late 1890s, sheep grazing was no longer a problem, and
the Army made many other improvements. The Cavalry could not intervene
to help the worsening condition of the Valley or Grove.

Muir and his Sierra Club continued to lobby the government and influential
people for the creation of a unified Yosemite National Park. Then in May
1903, President Theodore Roosevelt camped with John Muir near Glacier
Point for three days. On that trip, Muir convinced Roosevelt to take control
of the Valley and the Grove away from California and give it to the federal
government. In 1906, Roosevelt signed a bill that did precisely that.

The National Park Service was formed in 1916 and Yosemite was transferred
to that agency's jurisdiction. Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, Tioga Pass Road,
and campgrounds at Tenaya and Merced lakes were also completed in 1916.
Automobiles started to enter the park in ever-increasing numbers following
the construction of all-weather highways to the park.

To the north of Yosemite Valley but within the park is Hetch Hetchy Valley,
which was slated for flooding to create a reservoir and hydroelectric
power plant to benefit far-away San Francisco. A nationally polarized
fight ensued, pitting preservationists like Muir and his Sierra Club against
conservationists like Gifford Pinchot. The U.S. Congress eventually authorized
the O'Shaughnessy Dam in 1913 through passage of the Raker Act.

Since then, preservationists have convinced Congress to set aside about
95% of the park in a highly protected wilderness area. The Park Service
has also been moving away from allowing touristy inducements to visit
the park, such as the famous Firefall (in which red-hot embers were pushed
off a cliff near Glacier Point at night). Increasing traffic congestion
in Yosemite Valley during the summer months has also been an issue of
concern. Proposals to exclude all automobiles in the summer that are not
registered at a hotel or campground within the valley have been investigated.
This would force all summer day-use visitors in the valley to use the
free shuttle system, bike, or walk in the 7-mile-long (11 km) valley.